Cardboard – brown corrugated, grey card, greetings cards and brown envelopes – please flatten. Small bits of card can be put into larger boxes before flattening – cut or tear up large pieces. Please remember,very large pieces or more than the equivalent of two recycling boxes when flattened should be taken to a recycling centre and may not be collected at the kerbside.

Foil – aluminium foil only and not if plastic or paper backed (check with the scrunch test – scrunch up and if stays squashed together it can be recycled as foil).

On top or alongside boxes

Textiles – clothes, towels, sheets, blankets, curtains, but no stuffed items, such as duvets, pillows and quilts – put out in bags (not black sacks) and avoid putting out on wet days – please label ‘textiles’.

Unless you have an assisted collection, containers should be at the edge of your property by 7am on collection day (as collection times can vary) and no earlier than the night before. Please take care not to obstruct pavements or roads, and take bins back in as soon as possible after collections.

Destruction of confidential or sensitive materials, such as by shredding, is a vital precaution before adding them to a recycling box, as kerbside collections and the recycling process are not designed to be a secure disposal route.

While much of the concern about identity theft has moved to the risks of online cybercrime, in the past the police have warned Somerset residents about suspicious individuals spotted looking through recycling boxes at night.

As the police and government advise, householders should take steps to avoid fraud or identity theft. Credit cards and similar items must be fully cut up, while documents that could be misused should be destroyed, preferable by shredder.

These can include bank statements, credit card receipts, utility and tax bills, pay slips, old driving licences or passports, as well as CVs and items with signatures or National Insurance numbers.

Even seemingly innocuous material – such as received mail with your name and address – can be misused when combined with other forms of ID.

For example, warning that “identity fraudsters don’t need much information in order to be able to clone your identity,” the police National Fraud and Cybercrime Reporting Centre urges consumers to “destroy and preferably shred receipts with your card details on and post with your name and address on”.

SWP is happy to accept shredded paper for recycling, but advises avoiding mess by placing it in a paper wrapper that can also be recycled, such as an old envelope or paper bag.

If large amounts of papers need destruction, residents may wish to use the SWP business directory and other sources to find companies offering confidential waste services.